I know I'm late on this...

But I couldn't help pointing out that Congress just declined to increase the minimum wage, which hasn't increased since 1997, ostensibly on the grounds that it forces employers to increase wages, yet they recieved its annual COLA to their own salaries, a forced increase for the employers (me and you and a dog named boo). Actually, in a truely inspired move, tired of the all the bad press that comes with voting for a raise, they had the brilliant idea of making the raise automatic unless unless they vote to not take it. Guess how often that happens? I wonder why they didn't do the same thing with the minimum wage?

As a quick side note to all you economists out there, one of the main arguements for the Congressional COLA by Congresstypes is that at nearly $160k they are underpaid compared to the private sector. Oddly, none of them ever leave to take a higher paying job until either, they lose, they're in danger of losing, or they retire after several decades in office. If the job is so underpaid, why do they keep running, and why do are so many people lined up to take the gig?